Absorbent articles, such as sanitary napkins, are used by women principally during their menstrual periods to receive and contain menses and other vaginal discharges to protect their garments from soiling. Other articles, such as incontinence pads are similarly worn for control of light urine incontinence. Sanitary napkins and incontinence pads typically have adhesive attachment means to temporarily adhere the device to the crotch region of the user's undergarment, normally her panty.
When placing an absorbent article in an undergarment, it is often critical that the article be positioned correctly with respect to the crotch portion thereof. Improper positioning of the absorbent article can result in bodily discharges coming into contact with the wearer's garments or undergarment, instead of entering the absorbent article. For example, if the absorbent article is placed too far toward the front of the undergarment, a rearward portion of the undergarment may not be covered by the absorbent article, resulting in fluid, such as menses, soiling the undergarment. The problem is made worse when the absorbent article is asymmetrically-shaped, such that it does not provide an inherent indication of proper placement. Further, if the product has what are commonly referred to as “wings” or “flaps” intended to wrap the edges of the wearer's undergarments in the crotch region and/or affix the article to the undergarment, misplacement of the article can result in poor folding and premature detachment.
Asymmetrically-shaped absorbent articles, such as absorbent articles that are narrow in the front and wide in the back, or otherwise are not symmetric about a transverse centerline such as “pear-shaped” sanitary napkins, are known in the art. Such articles are intended to be worn with the larger surface area region oriented to the back of the wearer. Sanitary napkins designed in this manner can be more effective in preventing soiling of the undergarments. Asymmetrically-shaped absorbent articles are also known for control of light urine incontinence. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,439,458 issued to Noel et al. discloses an absorbent article such as an adult incontinence pad having an improved shape. The shape is described as being symmetrical about its longitudinal centerline, but asymmetrical about its transverse centerline.
However, the problem with asymmetrically-shaped absorbent articles, particularly such articles for use as feminine hygiene articles, is that the asymmetric nature of the pad renders it difficult to place correctly in the user's undergarment. Specifically with respect to sanitary napkins and incontinence pads, it is confusing to the user which of the asymmetrically-shaped ends goes in the rear or in the front, respectively, with respect to the undergarment. For incontinence pads, for example, some users tend to intuitively place the larger surface area portion to the rear, as is desirable with a similarly-shaped sanitary napkin intended for menstrual use, when, in fact, the larger surface area portion is intended to be oriented to the front of her undergarment.
Other problems associated with feminine hygiene articles include effectively communicating a particular benefit of a particular article to the user. For example, an article such as sanitary napkin may have enhanced functionality in one portion, such as enhanced absorbency nearer one end or another. It would be beneficial for the user to have some way of knowing which portion of the article has the enhanced absorbency. Knowing this would facilitate proper orientation and placement of the article in her undergarment.
Accordingly, there remains an unaddressed need for an improved feminine hygiene article, such as a sanitary napkin or pantiliner that is designed to facilitate proper placement and positioning in a user's undergarment.
Further, there is an unaddressed need for a means for properly placing and positioning a feminine hygiene article in an undergarment when the absorbent article is not symmetric about a longitudinal and/or transverse centerline thereof.
Also, there is an unaddressed need for a feminine hygiene article, or an array of feminine hygiene articles, that effectively communicate to the user differences in functionality that may be present in various portions thereof. Such a need is unaddressed both for symmetrically- and asymmetrically-shaped articles.
Finally, there is an unaddressed need for an asymmetrically-shaped incontinence pad comprising means for facilitating proper orientation and/or placement.